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Welcome to Day 2 of the draft

2014_NHL_DRAFT-LOGO_BIG

PHILADELPHIA -- Greetings from Day 2 of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Here are a few things Brough and I’ll be keeping an eye on as we take in rounds two through seven from the draft floor...

-- Will Ottawa make a move? All was quiet on the Jason Spezza front yesterday as the Sens watched Vancouver flip Ryan Kesler to Anaheim, removing one of the rumored suitors for Spezza in the process. That said, there are still a number of teams needing a center and believed to be in the Spezza mix, including St. Louis -- who, it should be mentioned, has eight picks today and two in the second round.

-- When will the first goalie be selected? Last year, Montreal made Zach Fucale the first netminder taken with the sixth pick (36th overall) in Round 2; today, it’ll be interesting to see where NHL Central Scouting’s top-ranked netminder -- Boston College’s Thatcher Demko -- gets snapped up.

-- How many deals will get done? It’s hard to use the ’13 Draft as a comparison because the entire thing was conducted on one day but, two years ago in Pittsburgh, a pair of noteworthy trades happened on Day 2: Luke Schenn went to Philly for James van Riemsdyk, and Benoit Pouliot went to Tampa Bay for a pick and a prospect. We also saw negotiating rights change hands (Winnipeg acquired Jonas Gustavsson), though that’s less likely to happen today given teams are now able to contact players headed for free agency on July 1.

-- Will yesterday’s cap number force some teams to adjust? Per CapGeek, the $69 million ceiling means Chicago and Philly are already over the cap; Boston (who is still working on a new deal for Jarome Iginla) and Los Angeles are both within $4 million of hitting the roof, so to speak.

-- Will another buyout be used? Yesterday, the Sharks confirmed they’d use one of their two compliance buyouts on Martin Havlat while the Coyotes used a standard buyout on Mike Ribeiro. With just two days remaining before the amnesty window closes, it’s possible someone else pulls the trigger before things are done at Wells Fargo.

Should be a fun day. Stay tuned to PHT for all the latest from Philly...